Triumph, Harley Davidson, and KTM topped the pole on the dealer/manufacturer relationship , the value of the franchise rating, and Dealer profit and future profitability. The least valued franchises by respondents were Piaggio Group, Honda and Ducati.

The NMDA’s Spring 2017 Dealer Attitude Survey received a response rate of 32%. Respondents were 74% of independently owned franchise dealers, and 24% privately owned groups. 58% were single brand dealer’s whist the remainder of 42% were multi-franchised.

Stephen Latham, Head of the NMDA commented: “The average score across all questions was 3.3, unchanged from the last survey. Overall this suggests that dealers are fairly satisfied with the business relationship they have with their manufacturer.

“Dealers are on average most satisfied with the image of the brands they represent and products they sell. This suggests that dealers are brand patriotic and confident in how the consumer views their manufacturer.

Latham concluded: “With the declines in scores for certain key questions, there is still scope with certain manufacturers to develop their relationships with their dealer networks as some still fall well below average in many areas of the survey.”